Training

Training

Because of our affiliation with Yale University, the Center provides a teaching and observation experience for Yale undergraduate and graduate fellows in training at the Yale Child Study Center. We also serve as a training site for other area colleges as well as high school students.

Yale Child Study Center and Teacher Preparation Courses

The Director Emerita is on the Yale Child Study Center, Psychology and Education Studies faculties.

Theory and Practice of Early Childhood Education

The course deals with the development of curricula for young children. Goals are to deepen insights and develop critical analysis of educational programs for young children in light of current research and developmental theory. Understanding of the ongoing processes of curriculum development, creating a responsive environment, and working with families and other members of the teaching team will be a significant focus of the course.

Language, Literacy, and Play

There is a widespread consensus that play is an essential component of a developmentally appropriate early childhood curriculum. Research indicates that play enhances a child’s creativity, intellectual development and social emotional development. This course will demonstrate the complicated role that play has in the development of language and literacy skills. A major part of each topic presentation will be a discussion of the role that play has in the curriculum in enhancing each developmental area. Literacy skills include speaking, listening, attending, reading and writing. Because learning to play, learning language and learning literacy skills are all part of the process of thinking and communication, the course will provide a view which attempts to demonstrate the integration of language, literacy and play in an early childhood education curriculum. Theoretical aspects of each of these developmental areas will be examined first, and it will be that theoretical understanding which will be the basis upon which ideas about curriculum will be explored, experienced and discussed.

Child Study

The goal of this course is for students to develop a theoretical base in child development and behavior and to become sensitive and careful observers of young children. During the seminar we will consider aspects of cognitive, social, physical and emotional development. The course is taught from the perspective of a developmental interectionist approach. It gives an overview of the major theories in the field but will focus on the complex interaction between the developing self and the environment. Students have the opportunity to see how programs for young children use psychodynamic and interactional theories to inform their philosophy and curriculum. All students spend three hours per week as a participant observer in one of three Yale affiliated child care programs.

Yale University Course Descriptions and Syllabi

Postgraduate Fellowships

Calvin Hill Day Care Center, in collaboration with the Yale Child Study Center, is proud to offer two Fellowship opportunities for the 2018-2019 academic year. Our fellowship programs are a unique combination of engagement in a high quality preschool classroom setting and participation in related courses in a nationally renowned child development clinic. The one-year programs are designed as a supervised and supported entry into the professional world of early childhood education, childcare, and clinical work with young children.

The Carla Horwitz Fellowship in Child Development and Early Childhood Education

This program is for individuals with an interest in child development, early childhood education, and clinical evaluations and interventions with young children and their families. Carla Horwitz Fellows participate in the weekly seminar, “Clinical Child Development and Assessment of Young Children” at the Yale Child Study Center. Fellows observe senior clinicians conducting developmental assessments and participate in the ongoing discussion of diagnostic formulations. Through this exposure, Fellows become familiar with the processes of clinical referrals, diagnostic assessment, how clinicians think about the behaviors of children in groups, the differences between an educational and a therapeutic intervention, and models for working with children in an educational setting. Graduates of this fellowship have gone on to pursue advanced degrees in medicine, psychiatry, and education.

The Seedlings Teaching Fellowship

This program is for individuals with a dedicated interest in working with young children, preferably as a teacher. Seedlings fellows have had some classroom experience and/or a degree in Early Childhood Education or Child Development. They are passionate about and interested in issues of childcare, early childhood education and advocacy on behalf of young children. Graduates of this fellowship typically go on to other childcare and early education settings to provide leadership as teachers or work in other related fields to improve the quality of care for children. Depending on their preparation and background, Seedlings Fellows may have the opportunity to participate in the seminar, “Theory and Practice of Early Childhood Education.” This course, offered by the Yale Child Study Center, explores developmentally appropriate curriculum and instruction for young children.